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There might also be a bit of an "old media" effect, kind of like how for those who cared to read between the lines, the overwhelming dominance of conservative talk on radio was more of a reflection of whomever was left devoted and listening to (AM especially) radio...
 
I hate to sound like a pig here, but one reason for higher ratings among men is that Fox deliberately hires more "hot babes" than other stations.
 
Jason Jones of the Daily Show interviews Iranians on knowledge of the USA, and contrasts Americans on their knowledge of the Middle East. I believe this plays into the popularity of Fox "News", and the dumbing down of America.

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/library/#clip186805
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Jason Jones of the Daily Show interviews Iranians on knowledge of the USA, and contrasts Americans on their knowledge of the Middle East. I believe this plays into the popularity of Fox "News", and the dumbing down of America.

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/library/#clip186805
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I wouldn't make much of that. I am fairly sure there are many Canadians who would perform similarly. Remember the "talking to Canadians" series?
 
AGTO said:
I'm fairly sure you're mistaken on this one.
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Really? I've been to 8 of 10 provinces in this country and I assure you that I have found ignorance throughout the realm. I think there was an era when Canadians were more worldly, particularly because young Canadians travelled more. I think that time period is passing. The university student who backpacks through Europe in University is pretty rare these days. And with that also went the 'worldliness'.

AGTO said:
Remember the "talking to Americans" series?
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What's your point? We all know about both series. I find it far more telling that for all our grandstanding around our national myths that Canadians are superior to Americans, that it was quite easy to find ignorant Canadians for the show's producers.

At least Americans know a fair bit about their own country (which sorta makes up for their supposed lack of world knowledge), I can't tell you how many Canadians I've met who could not name the capitals of ten provinces and three territories (and some were born in Canada). Most Canadians I would say score even worse on their own national history and geography.
 
Moreover comparisons like this are just strange. America is a global power, so of course people in other countries know who its leaders are and watch its media, etc. It's the same for every global power. Despite not having an Empire, Britain still has significant global influence and I would bet that most of the world knows who the British PM is, in no small part, thanks to BBC. Conversely, how much of the world watches Press TV?
 
Americans seem to learn a tortured version of their own history. An astonishing number think that the founding fathers intended America to be a Christian nation, which is exactly the opposite of what they intended. Nevermind that a majority of Americans think that the Earth is <10,000 years old.
 
^ That has more to do with politics and religious belief, etc. I think you'd find that evangelicals here believe the same things. The States just happen to have more of them.

I just think it's blatantly ignorant to suggest as some have that Americans are particularly ignorant of the world and that somehow Canadians are significantly more worldly. I find very little difference in the 'worldliness' of the two populations. This is just classic Canuck American envy. Outside of our few multi-cultural urban areas (and I would not even include the whole GTA) I would argue that worldliness is present pretty much on par with what you'd find in any US suburb.

It's just that Canadians don't seem to have too many comics who make fun of our own ignorance enough to realize this. At least the Americans do laugh at their own ignorance....heck they make it a regular segment of a show...'Jaywalking' In Canada its pretty much taboo for our comics to make Canadians look bad (other than "talking to Canadians" how many comics have tried mocking the ignorance of Canadians?) lest we shatter the national myth that we are all smarter than the Americans.
 
How can Fox News insult Canada when all they do is insult themselves?
 
kEiThZ said:
^ That has more to do with politics and religious belief, etc. I think you'd find that evangelicals here believe the same things. The States just happen to have more of them.

I just think it's blatantly ignorant to suggest as some have that Americans are particularly ignorant of the world and that somehow Canadians are significantly more worldly. I find very little difference in the 'worldliness' of the two populations. This is just classic Canuck American envy. Outside of our few multi-cultural urban areas (and I would not even include the whole GTA) I would argue that worldliness is present pretty much on par with what you'd find in any US suburb.

It's just that Canadians don't seem to have too many comics who make fun of our own ignorance enough to realize this. At least the Americans do laugh at their own ignorance....heck they make it a regular segment of a show...'Jaywalking' In Canada its pretty much taboo for our comics to make Canadians look bad (other than "talking to Canadians" how many comics have tried mocking the ignorance of Canadians?) lest we shatter the national myth that we are all smarter than the Americans.
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No question that there are ignorant Canadians. I went to school with someone who was under the impression that Canada was a US state.

What proportion of Canadians do you think could locate Europe on a map? Maybe I am too far removed from these ignoramuses here in Canada, but I can't imagine anyone I know not knowing such basic geography.

Maybe it's due in part to America's media, which is remarkably inward-focused.
 
I think its just numbers. There are 330 million yanks, which means that there will be millions of not-so-bright bulbs over there. Proportionally, though I don't think Americans are significantly better or worse than most other countries. Even the media aren't as bad as people think. I find most news outlets only marginally worse than say the CBC at coveing international news. None of them compare to say the BBC but in general they aren't as bad as people think. They certainly have a better distribution of reporters globally than any Canadian network. What's often missed too though, is that the US is generally a newsmaker globally, so it shouldn't be surprising for so much of that news to be aired at home.
 
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What's often missed too though, is that the US is generally a newsmaker globally, so it shouldn't be surprising for so much of that news to be aired at home.
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I agree with this statement. Watching BBC world news report insignificant goings on in America when there's an entire world full of more meaningful stories to me demonstrates how US-centric the entire planet is. I really don't understand the fascination with America... Many Koreans seem disappointed when I point out how bleak and depressing most American cities are after the work-day has finished and then proceed to explain what the North American suburban lifestyle is like. There's very few places a city-oriented person like me would be happy in such a big country (I was never truly happy out in 905 land).

It's probably more due to Hollywood's influcence over everything than anything else. As ignorant as most Americans are.. it's hard to blame them when the entire world cares more about a bank robbery in LA than a suicide bomber killing dozens in the middle east...
 
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